Blades and counterblades are used in various chopping devices, such as devices for cutting straw and similar materials into small pieces. These devices are used in combine-harvesters, for example. They are equipped with a rotating roll or drum, on which a plurality of chopping blades are mounted in a fixed or rotating manner, distributed both over the length of the drum and also around its circumference. These devices chop up the material supplied for chopping between stationary counterblades. The chopped material is transported onward by appropriate guide devices. DE-PS 3,626,456 describes blades with rectangular cross sections, which have cutting edges ground along on their long sides. These cutting edges extend over approximately three-fourths of the length of the blade or possibly over its entire length. EP 0,538,599 and DE-U-94-16,851 describe blades with teeth which have been ground into the cutting edges. Because the cutting edges are produced by grinding, the stress which occurs when load is exerted on the blades is diffused unfavorably. This unfavorable stress diffusion increases the likelihood that the cutting tools will be bent out of shape and is attributable to the metal-removing method used to create the beveled surfaces—a method which not only forms grooves in the surface of the bevels and thus promotes the notch effect but also interrupts the course of the fibers or texture of the blade, which is usually manufactured from strip material. The service life and strength of such blades have a major determining effect on the reliability of the chopping device, which operates without vibration only when the rotating drum is equipped with cutting tools of uniform weight. If, for example, a broken blade must be replaced, the blade mounted on the opposite side of the drum must also be replaced in order to restore the necessary balance.